Dricus Du Plessis already has plans when he becomes the next middleweight champ, and Khamzat Chimaev is not part of it. For the South African, his next perfect target is former two-time middleweight champ Israel Adesanya. However, sports analyst and commentator Michael Bisping negated this plan, saying Khamzat Chimaev is the logical choice for “Stillknocks” at the moment.
Du Plessis will be meeting champ Sean Strickland to challenge him for the belt this weekend. “Tarzan” is a big threat for him, but Du Plessis is confident he will secure the belt after the fight. When that happens, the South African fighter plans to fight Adesanya, who’s currently on break but is reportedly coming back to training by the end of February.
In line with that, the former middleweight and welterweight champ downplayed Chimaev‘s claim as the No. 1 title contender. To recall, the promotion announced that the Russian’s fight against Kamaru Usman was the No. 1 contender’s fight for Strickland. However, after a hand injury, the company instead gave the shot to Du Plessis. And while some expect that the company would honor its promised title shot for Chimaev when he comes back, Du Plessis expressed a lack of interest in the fight due to the fellow fighter’s past fights.
Bisping, however, doesn’t agree with Du Plessis’ argument.
“Sean Strickland’s a welterweight. Sean Strickland started his career as a welterweight,” Bisping said on his YouTube content. “Of course, he came up to 185, and the man’s become a champion. Robert Whitaker, the last guy that Dricus beat, was a welterweight before he came up to 185. Khamzat Chimaev? Yes, fought the bulk of his career at welterweight, but he has fought at 185 on two occasions – Gerald Meerschaert one-punch knockout and then a back-and-forth, very close fight with Kamaru Usman, and he was pretty much guaranteed a title fight by Dana White if I’m not mistaken, so that is the next fight.
“He’s talking about fighting Israel Adesanya, and that does make sense. I feel like I talked about this recently: Dricus Du Plessis, if he does become the champion, there’s a lot of options for him right, but No. 1 option is probably Khamzat Chimaev. Yes, Israel Adesanya, there is beef there. They’ve squared off in the octagon, they’ve went back and forth, they’re both claiming to be the real African and all this type of stuff. There’s a lot of hype and promo material for that fight. However, Israel just came out, he’s injured, he’s actually attending rehab as we speak.”
Du Plessis’ sentiment about Chimaev is not new in the division. In the past, Strickland also expressed disfavor for the fighter, saying he only got the No. 1 contender promise of the promotion due to his ability to sell tickets. According to the champ, the Russian fighter “doesn’t f*cking deserve it,” and his current position is just a fruit of “f*ckery” in the rankings.
